Emotional Rescue
by lurknomore
Summary: Zach and Kendall. What if Zach rescued Kendall from the Pine Valley Ocean the night of his murder game instead of Ethan? One shot.


_Author's Note: I wrote this a while back. This is dedicated to the ladies of the Zach and Kendall board. There have been a few points in their relationship where Kendall and Zach could have ended up involved sexually; I think this is one of the earliest. I refuse to believe that they weren't attracted to each other around the time Ethan showed up, even though Zach was hung up on Maria and Kendall was hung up on Ryan. They were way too flirty and sparkly – even though he thought she killed Michael and she thought he was bad news. This takes place the night of Zach's Murder Game, back in 2004. What if Zach rescued Kendall instead of Ethan?_

He doesn't trust her.

He's not sure he likes her.

But he wasn't lying when he told her she was as fascinating as her mother. Well, maybe he was; the truth is that he finds her more fascinating. Kendall's passions reach outward and encompass others in a way her mother's don't – and Zach reluctantly admires that.

He's not sure what drew him from the viewing room to the beach. He had a plan for this evening, and rescuing Kendall from the depths of her own folly had no part of it. Hell, he'd been helping push her to this point for weeks; any regret he felt at her growing misery was buried, repressed, overborne because he had to know what really happened to Michael.

He may not understand why Lavery prefers Greenlee's easy, selfish prettiness to Kendall's more intense… charms, but he'd sure as hell exploited that preference to get them all to this point.

And now, when he should be watching what he set in motion play out, to see if he was right, to find out once and for all if she killed his brother, he's been drawn almost against his will to save her. Her rage and grief call to him; he understands the desperation that led her to walk into the water. How can he not? His own led him to fake his own death and walk away from everything he was to become everything he is.

So he races into the water and pulls her, shivering, from its depths, cursing himself and her the entire time. His plan is history, now. His savior complex has blown it all to hell. He carries her back to the beach, asking her what the hell she was thinking (which is stupid, because he already knows; she wasn't thinking, just feeling. Damn Lavery and his self-satisfied bitch of a bride).

But then her cold, wet lips touch his, and it sparks something new.

Involuntarily his hands reach up to cradle her face. Her bones are so delicate; her skin is petal soft. He's often wondered, in spite of himself, what she felt like. What she tasted like. Even with Maria within his reach again, he'd find himself watching Kendall stalk around his office and wonder what it would feel like to have all that passion, all that fire, focused on him.

Now he knows.

Addictive.

Without thought, he deepens the kiss. His fingers trace her collarbone. She shivers again; he's not sure whether it's the cold or his touch.

He doesn't care. He just wants more.

Kendall leans into his kiss.

"Ryan", she thinks. "At last." She parts her lips, gives him more access. She moves her hands to his chest. His heart beats so strongly; she draws closer to him, enthralled by its quickening beat.

Except Ryan never touched her this tentatively; his hands never cupped her face quite this gently.

She opens her eyes.

Well, that explains it. Not Ryan.

She pulls back a bit, almost reluctantly. "Zach?"

He lets her go, slowly opening his own eyes. One hand falls away while the other still traces abstract patterns on her throat, slowly moving down to the bodice of her soaking wet dress.

He looks good wet, is all she can think. The well tailored suits he wears hint at the physique she feels under her hands (which she hastily removes from his chest), but the reality is… startling.

She shivers again, for reasons that have nothing to do with cold, and his other hand drops away.

Their eyes meet. Her gaze is open, startled; his is guarded, as always. She wishes, not for the first time, that she could read him. Most of the men in her life have been easy enough to understand. Zach Slater is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle wrapped in a very dangerous package. He attracts her and scares her and challenges her in ways no one else, even Ryan, ever has.

Zach picks up his jacket from where he tossed it on the beach and without comment wraps it around her. Without meaning to he lingers, fussing with the collar for a bit and pulling her closer. She's grateful for its warmth, but she wants to feel him; she wants to kiss him again now that she's more aware. Her skin is still tingling where he touched her before and she wants to feel that warmth everywhere. She inhales as he draws her closer. The jacket smells like him, but he smells even better. She thinks, irrelevantly, that Fusion really ought to look into a men's line. Maybe she and Greenlee -

Involuntarily she flinches. Dammit. Greenlee. Ryan. Oh, and attempted suicide.

This could take some explaining.

Zach inwardly curses himself as she shies away from him. Stupid. She doesn't want him; he doesn't want her. The fact that right now, all his senses are screaming at him to continue what she started is immaterial. So what if he can still feel the weight of her body against his and taste her on his tongue? It's abstinence, he tells himself. He hasn't gotten any since he caught sight of that picture of Maria during his research into Pine Valley. He does NOT want Kendall Hart.

He takes his hands off the jacket and she stumbles slightly. He grabs her elbows to steady her and his hands burn again from even that slight contact with her body.

She probably killed his brother, for God's sake. Is he that hard up?

She stills under his touch, staring up at him with those damned eyes. Haunted, questioning… he could lose himself in them a hundred times over.

Damn it. He can hear Michael laughing in his head as he draws her closer to him. Blessedly, when his lips touch hers, the laughing stops.

All he hears now is the beating of his own heart and the little sigh she gives before she starts kissing him back.

Kendall isn't sure what's happening anymore; he was letting her go, and she lost her balance, and he caught her, and now they're standing there, neither one moving. All she knows for sure is that she wants Zach to kiss her again, now, because nothing has felt this good in months, and she needs to know if it was him or the illusion that it was Ryan making her head spin. She waits, breathless, as his head moves closer and his eyes continue to watch her, waiting for some kind of reaction.

Her eyes close as his mouth claims hers.

Evidently, it's him. She sighs and melts against him, moving her hands up his torso and twining her fingers into his hair. The kiss deepens, their tongues tangling aggressively.

His jacket falls to the sand, unheeded by either one of them.

Zach draws her closer, needing to feel all of her against him, desperate for more contact. His hands start restlessly moving up and down her sides, her back, unable to settle in one place. He reluctantly releases her lips, and runs his mouth down her chin, onto her neck, exploring the hollows of her throat with his lips and teeth. Kendall hums with pleasure, and he answers her with a sound of his own, rumbling against her neck, feeling her tremble again and knowing for sure that this time, it's got nothing to do with cold or fear and everything to do with pleasure. Her fingers leave his hair and start wrestling with the buttons of his shirt, and he relishes the feel of her hands on his chest.

Kendall isn't sure how much longer she can stand; Zach's hands and mouth are doing incredible things to her entire body and her knees are trembling so much she would fall over if she weren't holding on to him. Not content with just touching him, she's now running her mouth over whatever part of his chest she can reach. Luckily, he seems to realize they've been standing quite long enough and he gently pulls her down to the sand, depositing her on his discarded jacket. She tries to pull him on top of her, to assuage the growing ache she feels, but he resists. Instead he lies next to her on his side and starts running one hand along the top of her dress, slowly, teasingly. With a frustrated sound she brings his hand to the size zipper, and they draw it down together.

Zach finds himself holding his breath as the dress loosens; his hand leaves the zip, and brushes the neckline lower, revealing her small, high breasts to his gaze. He exhales. Her nipples are already hard from cold and excitement. He covers one with his hand, and Kendall makes another one of those humming sounds and thrusts herself upward. In response he covers the other with his mouth, caressing it, sucking hard on the nipple. She tastes like seawater and some heady fragrance he's smelled on her before that he'd assumed was Fusion product but now realizes has to be her. He can't get enough of it. As he suckles, Kendall makes a keening sound that travels straight to his engorged cock.

Kendall can't believe how good this feels. His hand is huge; the feel of his mouth on her still chilled skin is like nothing she's ever felt. Every time he sucks, she can feel a corresponding tug below in her sex. She wants to give him some of the same pleasure, so her hand travels down his body to the hard outline of his erection, tracing it gently, almost teasingly, until he growls and thrusts into her hand. She smiles, undoes the zipper of his trousers and slips her hand inside. Velvet over steel. She strokes the length of him once, twice, in the same rhythm she feels in her core.

Zach groans as her hand grips him. He's afraid of how good it feels, so he stops her; bringing her hand up to his chest. Then his hand travels down her body and draws the skirt of her dress up to her hips, baring her to his heated gaze. He eases a finger inside her thong, strokes once, twice, feeling the wetness of her arousal. She cries out his name, and he kisses her, swallowing another cry as he inserts one finger into her heated core. "Yes," he thinks. Then he says it. "Yes." He flicks his thumb across her clit once, twice, lazily – and he feels her orgasm start.

Kendall cries his name again, stunned by her body's response to him. She rides out the waves, but she still wants more – she wants him to lose himself in her as well. Just once, she thinks hazily, she wants to see Zach Slater lose that vaunted control. More importantly, she wants to be the reason he loses it. So she moves her hands to his belt. Zach helps her this time, disposing of his own pants and her thong with a couple of deft moves. Then he covers her with his body and places himself at her entrance -

and they both pause.

This, they realize, separately, they can't take back.

They will not be able to pretend it never happened.

Frighteningly enough, they may not want to.

They may even want it to happen again.

And in the silence of the night, and in the pounding of the surf, Zach can hear Michael starting to murmur again. He's tired of that voice.

Kendall can hear the voice – lately, Ryan's voice – telling her that she can never be enough. And she thinks that maybe, here and now, she might be able to silence it, at least temporarily.

But it's a risk.

They watch each other, warily.

She looks insanely beautiful in the moonlight, he thinks.

God, he's beautiful, she thinks.

They're both risk takers.

And he says – groans - , "Kendall - "

And she says one word: "Please."

Their decision made, they both shudder as he enters her with one long, smooth stroke. They both stop thinking. Their bodies know what they need, and strive for it. She locks her legs around his hips as he continues to thrust into her. Their mouths meet again, mimicking the rhythm they've established together.

He feels her begin to come again, and it triggers his orgasm as well. They both cry out, riding out the waves and aftershocks. Realizing that his weight may be too much for her, Zach rolls to his side, gathering Kendall close in his arms.

She sighs and nestles in closer. He brushes a kiss across her forehead and lightly traces the curve of her spine with his fingertips.

He knows they have to get up soon, arrange their damp clothes into some semblance of order, and hope that no one sees them going back to the casino.

He has to figure out how to determine once and for all the truth of what happened to his brother.

But right now, he doesn't care. In spite of all his doubts, he feels better than he has in weeks.

Zach still isn't sure he trusts Kendall Hart.

But it's got nothing to do with Michael – not anymore. Now it's about self preservation. Kendall Hart is dangerous, all right. Zach is more fascinated by her now than he ever was; and every instinct he has tells him that fascination is only going to get stronger.

Being tangled up with a woman in love with another man – when you're not even over the woman who left you – increases the odds of heartache by a factor Zach really doesn't care to contemplate.

But he's always been an excellent gambler.


End file.
